Page 50

“What just happened? Why didn’t your magic work?”

“This bracelet is bound to you. Whoever put it on your wrist attached a very potent, very dark bewitchment to it. It won’t come off without some extra conjuring. Thank Mother, Maid, and Crone that Gladys is here.”

Esme dragged Willow by the hand out of the kitchen.

“Wait, dark bewitchment? Jewels and Daria are so nice. Nadine is kind of intense, but what do you expect from a lawyer?”

“Willow, these ladies are either extremely clueless and accidentally stumbled upon a magical object, or they’re up to something wicked. I’m leaning toward the latter.”

In the living room, Bliss was trying to convince Montgomery to let her cast a glamour charm on his mustache.

“You’ll never have to wax it again,” she said. “Imagine waking up to perfectly curled ends, not having to worry how it looks after you eat or brush your teeth… or other things you might do with your mouth.”

She winked at Willow when she said the last part with a smug little look on her face. The stinker.

But Gladys seemed to know something was amiss as soon as she noticed Esme’s troubled expression.

Willow showed off her bangle as Esme brought everyone up to speed, and Gladys was all over it, hovering her hand over the metal until engraved runes appeared in a purple glow.

????? ???????? ??????

“I know this,” said Gladys with a look of horror. “Every witch I’ve seen wearing one of these circlets is as vile as they are beautiful. And they are all beautiful, believe me… using black arts to maintain their vanity and unnatural long life. Longer even than any other witch or wizard.”

That did sound about right as far as Willow could tell. Come to think of it, the ladies at Nadine’s house had abnormally contrived good looks, but she just thought it was the result of a lot of makeup or Botox.

“They’re known as a powerful and wicked coven and were banished from Salem even before the witch trials. Even Crescent Hollow washed their hands of them. They call themselves the Daughters of the Twilight Veil.”

“Talon Bickford,” Montgomery blurted. “He was trying to warn you about something.”

“Or he’s up to no good,” Willow countered. “Doing his mother’s dirty work. Whatever that is.”

“But what do they want with you?” Ivy wondered.

“Trying to get her to join their coven,” Bliss suggested. Why else would they slap that thing on her wrist?”

“Why would there be witches in Mysthaven?” Willow questioned. “There’s no community there.”

“It does sit on the same ley line as Crescent Hollow,” said Esme.

“What is a ley line?” Montgomery asked.

“They’re paths along land and sky,” replied Esme. “Kind of like magical rivers.”

“Or, in scientific terms,” added Willow. “Electromagnetic channels of Earth’s energy. Stonehenge sits on a ley line.”

“And we’re on one now?” Montgomery asked.

“They’re all over the world,” Willow said. “It’s really no big deal.”

“I seem to recall you had a relative involved with that coven,” said Gladys to Esme. “Was it a cousin or an aunt?”

Esme racked her memory. “Maybe my great aunt Celeste? I’ve never met her but I heard she was a little out there. Nobody knows what happened to her. She just disappeared one day.”

“Is there someone named Celeste in your women’s group?” Ivy asked. “Perhaps she wanted a family connection or something.”

Willow shook her head vaguely. “No. Not unless they weren’t using their real names.”

“I think I have a picture of her,” Esme said, moving to the armoire. “There’s a photo album in here somewhere.”